What can the molecular genetics of hypertensive rats teach us about the genetics of hypertension in humans?

Recent progress in molecular genetics has raised expectations that the application of powerful new techniques to established animal models of hereditary hypertension may provide important new insights in the genetic basis of human hypertension. Whereas these methods provide exciting opportunities, we shall have to revise many traditional and established strategies used in hypertension research to recognize their full potential. Although it is probably naive to anticipate the quick identification of genes involved in the pathogenesis of human hypertension from this research, these methods, if applied wisely, are likely to render important conceptual insights into the nature not only of hypertension and cardiovascular disease but of polygenic disorders in general.